Sverre Walter Rostoft (12 December 1912 – 26 April 2001) was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Glemmen Glemmen is a parish and former municipality with the city of Fredrikstad, Østfold county, Norway. History The parish of ''Glemminge'' was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). A part of Glemmen with 2,013 inhab ...

as a son of ship captain Georg Walter Andersen (1887–1952) and housewife Marta Walgjerta Hansen. He took commerce school in 1930 and the

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

in 1935. He studied philology from 1935 to 1937, then worked as a secretary at Nylands Verksted until 1944. In 1947 he graduated with the

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

degree.

Career

He was hired as an office manager in Kristiansands Mekaniske Verksted in 1944. Already in 1945 he became chief executive officer, serving until 1979. He became a board member of the Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries in 1949 and the

Federation of Norwegian Industries The Federation of Norwegian Industries ( no, Norsk Industri) is an employers' organisation in Norway, organized under the national Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise ( no, Næringslivets Hovedorganisa ...

in 1957. He served as president from 1962 to 1965. Rostoft chaired the local

Rotary club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

from 1949 to 1950. He was elected to

Oddernes Oddernes is a borough in the city of Kristiansand which lies in the municipality of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. The borough covers eastern Kristiansand on the east side of the Topdalsfjorden and the Varodd Bridge. The borough include ...

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

and served from 1951 to 1955. Other public posts in this period include board memberships of Kristiansand Port Authority from 1952 and Vest-Agder Elektrisitetsverk from 1954 (chair). He was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

, lost his seat in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

but was later re-elected in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

. Following the 1965 election, however, he was appointed

Minister of Industry The industry minister is a cabinet position in a government. The title may refer to the head of the governmental department that specializes in industry. This position may also be responsible for trade and employment, areas that fall under the mini ...

in the centre-right Borten's Cabinet. He held the position until Borten's Cabinet fell in 1971, and thus his seat in parliament was taken by

Kolbjørn Stordrange Kolbjørn Stordrange (27 September 1924 in Nes, Vest-Agder – 18 November 2004) was a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Vest-Agder in 1969, and was re-elected on one occasion. He had ...

the entire term (until 1969). Rostoft was also a central board member of the Conservative Party from 1954 to 1970. He held a wide range of other positions. In education and culture he was a council member of

NTNF The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( no, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Forskningsråd) or NTNF was the first of five research councils established in Norway. It existed from 1946 until the end of 1992, when the f ...

from 1963 to 1965 and Agder District College and board member of the Norwegian Church Academies. He chaired the companies Oil Industry Services,

Norske Folk Norske Folk was a life insurance company based in Norway. It was founded in 1917. In 1984 it started a cooperation with Norges Brannkasse named UNI Forsikring. In 1989 Norske Folk was redesigned into a public company A public company is a co ...

UNI Forsikring UNI Forsikring was an insurance group based in Norway. It was founded in 1984 as a cooperation between life insurance company Norske Folk and general insurance company Norges Brannkasse. It was decided to restructure the two parties as public co ...

, Siemens Norge and

Christianssands Bryggeri Christianssands Bryggeri (or CB, Kristiansand's Brewery) is a Norwegian brewery centred in Kristiansand. Together with Hansa Bryggeri in Bergen and Borg Bryggerier in Sarpsborg it makes up Hansa Borg Bryggerier AS, which is the second largest gro ...

. He was a board member of Kristiansand Jernstøperi (1947–c.1965), Forsikringsselskapet Norrøna (1953–1972), ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

'' (1954–),

Hunsfos Fabrikker Hunsfos Fabrikker was a paper factory and company in Vennesla in Agder county, Norway. It was founded in 1886 as a takeover of the facilities of Otterelvens Papirfabrik, founded 1873 but later liquidated. It has harnessed the hydropower in the riv ...

(1961–1971),

Norske Shell Shell plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and second ...

(1972–1982) and Strømmen Staal. He chaired the supervisory council of Hunsfos Fabrikker (1971–1972), was vice chair in Sagapart (1973–1979) and supervisory council member of

Den norske Creditbank Den norske Creditbank or DnC is a defunct Norwegian commercial bank created in 1857. In 1990 it merged with Bergen Bank to create Den norske Bank (DnB). The bank was based in Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most pop ...

(1963–1965), Forsikringsselskapet Viking, Hypotekforeningen for næringslivet, and Storebrand. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1965, Commander of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

in 1973 and received the Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rostoft, Sverre Walter 1912 births 2001 deaths Norwegian jurists 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople Government ministers of Norway Members of the Storting Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Kristiansand Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century Norwegian politicians Ministers of Trade and Shipping of Norway